The prior art provides systems and methods of use thereof for the purpose of generating electrical energy from atmospheric wind power. U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,246 (hereinafter, “Goldberg”) discloses a vertical-axis wind turbine that includes two or more elongated blades connected to a rotor tower. Goldberg teaches that the tower defines an axis of rotation and is linked, preferably via a gearbox or other torque-converting arrangement, to the shaft of a generator. Each of Goldberg's blades are “twisted” so that each blade has a lower attachment point that is displaced angularly relative to an upper attachment point of the same blade. In a preferred embodiment of Goldberg, the radial distance of each blade from the axis of rotation varies between upper and lower attachment points such that the blade lies approximately along a “troposkein”, i.e., the shape that is assumed by a string clamped at each end and spun about an axis passing through the ends of the string. The ratio between blade chord length and blade thickness is preferably constant over the length of each blade of Goldberg's device, with the middle of each blade being approximately 80% as thick as its ends. Goldberg teaches that the cross-section of one or more blades may be teardrop-shaped, shaped as an airfoil, rectangular, or curved in some other way.
International Patent Application PCT/GB2004/003257, or WIPO Patent Application Publication No. WO/2005/010355, (hereinafter, “Cochrane”), discloses a vertical axis wind turbine comprising a rotatable shaft formed about a longitudinal axis and a plurality of substantially rigid blades mechanically coupled to the shaft, wherein each of the plurality of blades comprises an elongate body having an upper end and a lower end, and the upper end and the lower end of each blade are rotationally off-set from each other about the longitudinal axis such that each blade has a helix-like form. Furthermore, Cochrane teaches that sections of an elongate body of each blade, taken perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis, are shaped as an aerofoil having a leading edge and a trailing edge. The blade of Cochrane presents a camber line defined between the leading edge and the trailing edge, wherein the disclosed aerofoil is arcuately shaped such that each blade camber line lies along a line of constant curvature having a finite radius of curvature.
International Patent Application PCT/GB2008/001151, or WIPO Patent Application Publication No. WO/2008/119994 (hereinafter, “Bertenyi”) discloses a wind turbine system that includes a wind turbine; a regenerative drive system; a wind-speed sensor for measuring local wind speed; and a controller. The wind turbine comprises a motor-generator system, which is operatively connected to the regenerative-drive system. The motor-generator system is both (a.) drivable as a motor by the regenerative drive system to increase a rotational speed of the wind turbine; and (b.) operable as a generator by the regenerative drive system to decrease a rotational speed of the wind turbine. The system controller is operatively connected to the wind-speed sensor and the regenerative drive system, wherein the controller is operable to control operation of the regenerative-drive system to thereby control the rotational speed of the wind turbine in response to signals received from the wind sensor indicative of gusting changes in the local wind speed.
Yet the methods of the manufacturing of blades for wind turbine systems remain an economic burden on the cost-effective deployment of wind turbines, and the prior art designs of wind turbine blades fail to optimally address the variety of needs and preferences of the public and of industry. There is therefore a long-felt need for improved methods of wind turbine manufacture, wind turbine design, and methods of use thereof.